Max Planck Research Group
Evolutionary Developmental Dynamics
Evolution of Developmental Programs – Understanding how development builds complex traits and how evolution reshapes them.
Vision
How do cellular complexity and organization emerge during development?
The vertebrate body comprises diverse organs, tissues, and structures that develop and integrate with remarkable precision. Our research focuses on how these complex forms emerge from initially unspecified cells. In particular, we investigate how cells make decisions, acquire their identities, communicate, and respond to signals in the dynamically changing embryonic space and time. By reconstructing cell trajectories and exploring the gene regulatory networks that guide them, we aim to understand how the individual cell lineages give rise to complex, functional, and species-specific forms.
How does evolution modify ancient developmental programs to generate the extraordinary diversity of animal forms?
The extraordinary diversity of vertebrate life arises from remarkably conserved developmental programs. Throughout evolution, these ancient programs have been continuously modified, refined and redeployed to generate novel forms while preserving the robustness of embryogenesis. Understanding how evolution acts on development to produce biological diversity remains one of the fundamental challenges in biology and a central topic in contemporary Evo-Devo.
Our system
Our research spans a range of organs and structures, from the skull and vertebral column to the brain and sensory organs. One system that we have explored extensively in our recent work is the face, a highly variable structure essential for survival, communication and individual identity.
Our perspective
Development is a continuous sequence of cellular decisions. As cell lineages branch, diversify and interact, they progressively build the tissues, organs and organismal form. We focus our research on cell lineages and their developmental trajectories, aiming to understand how and when evolution modifies individual cellular trajectories to generate morphological diversity while preserving the robustness of development.
Selected research themes
Evolution of developmental programs
Development is remarkably robust, yet evolution has produced an extraordinary diversity of forms. We investigate how ancient developmental programs are modified across species to generate morphological innovation while maintaining the integrity of embryonic development.
Cell type evolution
The emergence of new cell types fuelled the evolution of multicellular life. We seek to understand how cellular identities originate, diversify and acquire new functions, and how the expansion of cell type repertoires enabled the evolution of increasingly complex organisms.
Evolutionary integration
Complex traits often evolve as integrated systems rather than isolated structures. We are particularly interested in the close developmental and evolutionary relationship between the brain and the skull, and in how their coordinated interactions shape both evolutionary constraints and opportunities for morphological diversification.
Development and disease
Understanding how complex developmental programs normally assemble the face provides a framework for understanding what happens when these processes fail. Our research helps to reveal the mechanistic basis of craniofacial malformations and neurodevelopmental disorders.
Evolution of skeletal tissues
The evolution of cartilage and bone has enabled major evolutionary innovations and transitions. We investigate how skeletal tissues originated and how differentiation trajectories of skeletogenic lineages evolved to give rise to the remarkable diversity of vertebrate skeletons.
Looking ahead
If we understand the logic by which embryonic development builds the face, and how evolution modifies this program to generate diversity, we should be able to predict it. Our long-term ambition is to develop predictive models that link genetic variation to facial morphology through the principles of development.
